


something new that's entirely similar

by all_forylee_the_game



Series: Chloe Minyard-Josten [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andrew and Neil would be amazing parents, Explicit Language, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Light Angst, M/M, Neil Josten & Andrew Minyard Adopt, Parents Neil Josten & Andrew Minyard, mentions of Andrew's past abuse, mentions of Neil's past abuse, nothing more than what the books said
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25063528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/all_forylee_the_game/pseuds/all_forylee_the_game
Summary: She said nothing as Neil and Andew showed Cameron her bedroom and she then closed the door in their faces. Before Neil responded, Andrew put a hand on his shoulder and a finger to his mouth to tell Neil to be quiet and listen. Neil heard the slow pick up of breathing behind the door. She was far from hyperventilating yet Neil could tell that a panic attack wasn’t far off. Andrew gestured for Neil to follow him into the kitchen and closed one of the sliders behind him.“She’s good,” Neil said. Andrew looked at him. “At hiding her emotions. She probably shows the opposite of what she feels.”  Andrew twitched an eyebrow.“You can hear when someone is still standing outside your door. We can’t do that,” Andrew paused. “I could always tell.” Neil nodded and took a breath.“I just want to help her now.”“Because you were so open when you showed up?” Neil rolled his eyes but didn’t argue.-Or Andrew and Neil adopt a kid. To say that day one was rough would be an understatement.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: Chloe Minyard-Josten [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1816468
Comments: 6
Kudos: 104





	something new that's entirely similar

**Author's Note:**

> hello! i have been addicted to aftg ever since i read it  
> i wanted to write Andrew and Neil with a kid  
> so here we are  
> if you like it, let me know! - if it's not your vibe, i'm fine with that too (omg i sound like Neil)  
> planning for this to be the first in a series  
> hope you like it!

Neil opened the door after he saw the car pull into their driveway. He looked over at his and Andrew’s daughter. Statistically, Neil knew everything about her; the name was Cameron, she was thirteen, her dad was killed by her mom who was a piss-ass drunk, her mom made an attempt on Cameron’s life twice, was put into foster care six years ago, she was angry, she hated being touched, and her favorite artist was Eminem. Yet Neil knew better than to think he knew her based on simply what he was told by the agency. In reality, he probably knew nothing about her. How could you know someone only based on what’s happened to them?

Cameron went through homes quickly and no one managed to keep her for long. She had been adopted three times before him and Andrew but had just been thrown back out when they couldn’t handle her. Neil and Andrew were nervous, no doubt, and Andrew had made sure that both he and Neil were completely committed. When they had been discussing whether to adopt or not, Andrew had given him a look and had been very clear with Neil that if they were going to do this, that failing was not an option. That they were not going to be just another set of shitty parents. That they were not not going to be one of them. 

Neil had enough hatred for what Andrew had gone through in the foster system to know that he would do everything he could to protect their daughter and give her a happy life. 

Of course, they asked Cameron if she would like to go home with them and she replied with ‘Have you met me?’ They both had nodded and she eventually snorted a response. She said ‘yes’ and then proceeded to tell them that they were screwed. 

Neil looked at her on his and Andrews’ front porch. Neil smiled at her black hoodie, black shorts, and black sneakers because of the resemblance to Andrew. She had a backpack slung carelessly over her shoulder and she knocked her head up to look at Neil with a hooded gaze. 

She said nothing as Neil and Andew showed Cameron her bedroom and she then closed the door in their faces. Before Neil responded, Andrew put a hand on his shoulder and a finger to his mouth to tell Neil to be quiet and listen. Neil heard the slow pick up of breathing behind the door. She was far from hyperventilating yet Neil could tell that a panic attack wasn’t far off. Andrew gestured for Neil to follow him into the kitchen and closed one of the sliders behind him. 

“She’s good,” Neil said. Andrew looked at him. “At hiding her emotions. She probably shows the opposite of what she feels.” Andrew twitched an eyebrow.

“You can hear when someone is still standing outside your door. We can’t do that,” Andrew paused. “I could always tell.” Neil nodded and took a breath. 

“I just want to help her now.” 

“Because you were so open when you showed up?” Neil rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. Andrew stepped closer to him. “Yes or no?” 

“Yes.” Andrew pressed Neil against the front of the dishwasher and kissed him, one hand trailing the back of his neck. Neil kept his hands in Andrew’s hair and pressed their foreheads together after they broke apart. They were both breathing harder than Neil wanted to admit but he was used to that with Andrew by then. 

“We can do this,” Neil said. 

“I know.” Neil nodded against Andrew's head to reassure himself more than Andrew. Neil heard a knock and his head snapped up to see Cameron leaning against the doorframe of the open sliding door. Andrew turned around and Neil could picture him with one eyebrow raised. 

“So do we eat, or are you two good with just each other for now?” Cameron said, a dull smile drawing across her face. Neil raised his eyebrows in a mix of shock and respect, wondering if his mind was in the gutter or if that was actually how she intended for them to interpret it. Andrew exhaled a sharp laugh and got started on dinner. 

To say that dinner was a disaster would be an understatement. Everything that Andrew and Neil either said or did, she had backlash for. Andrew was cutting and Cameron grabbed a knife and came at him. Unsurprisingly, Andrew was able to disarm her without doing any actual harm. Instead he just looked at her after and went back to what he was doing. Cameron had also tried to hit Neil over the head with a pan and after she seemed to get the hint that violence wouldn’t work with them, she switched tactics and went verbal. She was snarky, rude, and borderline homophobic yet Neil assumed that was just to get under their skin. Neil actually appreciated her mouth before he started to take some offence to what she was saying. (“ _ Do I need to teach you how to use a lawnmower, Neil?” “No. Why?” “Because it looks like you put your face under one.”)  _

Towards the end of dinner, Andrew mumbled ‘hold your ground’ on his way past Neil to the sink and then that whole evening clicked into place. Cameron was trying them out. She was trying to see if she could get them to break and what would happen if they did. 

On her way out of the kitchen, Cameron took her post up against the door again and looked back at the two of them. 

“So, what’s it going to be?” she asked. 

“What’s what going to be?” Neil asked as he looked at her.

“Do you really need suggestions?” Cameron asked. Neil looked to Andrew for help and he then slowly turned his gaze back on Cameron. 

“Suggestions for what?” Andrew asked with a hint of danger - not towards Cameron, Neil knew - in his voice. Neil doubted that anyone but him would have picked up on the undertone.

“Well, are you going to punch me?” Neil’s eyes widened and he felt Andrew tense next to him. Cameron knocked her head to the side. “Kick me? No, not your style? Ok then. How about hold me down? Lock me in my bedroom for days? Tie my hands together and hang me from the ceiling? That one was rough but my mom seemed to enjoy it. Or you could always just not deal with me.” Neil felt his chest flare with rage and Andrew was eerily still, radiating anger. Neil counted to ten in three different languages before he found words that weren’t ‘Is your mother dead? Because if not, I’d gladly kill her.’ 

“Cameron,” Neil said and she flinched. Neil quickly questioned everything that could have triggered it before he continued. “I need you to understand that we would never do that to you.” 

“Bullshit,” Cameron answered. Andrew seemed to simmer down enough to be able to move without throwing a punch, yet Neil could see where his knuckles were white and still clenched in fists by his sides.

“We are here to protect you, not hurt you,” Andrew said. “Both of us have been through shit like that. If we wanted to hurt you, we would have left you at the house.” 

“What shit?” Cameron asked. Neil stepped up behind Andrew and looked at him, question in his eyes. Andrew’s gaze hardened and he nodded, probably thinking the same thing as Neil.

“Do you really want to know?” Andrew asked, voice firm.

“Yes.” Cameron raised her eyebrows expectantly. Neil took a breath. 

“My dad was a sick person. He wanted me and my mom dead all my life. I was on the run from him and he killed my mom. I then ran by myself until I met Andrew and the Foxes and chose to stop running,” Neil paused and looked at her bored expression. “I stayed with the mafia over Christmas break my freshman year-”

“Why?” Cameron asked. Neil looked away and Andrew lightly bumped his shoulder. 

“I did it to protect Andrew, not that he needed protection, but I wanted to try anyway.” 

“What happened?” she asked, almost looking at Neil appraisingly. 

“I was beaten unconscious multiple times, tattooed, handcuffed to a bed and cut into.” Andrew’s fingers lightly brushed Neil’s and Neil gripped his hand and counted on it to not let him fall off the ledge. 

“They did that to your face?” Cameron asked.

“No. That was my fathers’ friends.” 

“And how did they do it?” Neil swallowed hard. 

“A dashboard lighter and a knife. I was also handcuffed and locked in a car trunk with the person who cut me.” Cameron winced and Neil assumed that was the first real expressions she had shown all day. She then turned her gaze to Andrew, not fully fazed yet. Andrew clenched his jaw. 

“Before I tell you, will you tell me why you want to know?” Andrew asked. Cameron paused for a minute, questioning. 

“I don’t know, really.” Cameron’s voice was quieter. “I guess it’s just easier to know that you lived through shit. That it didn’t break you. That you’re strong.” Cameron paused, lost in her own train of thought. “I always thought that with strength comes power. Then when you have that stripped from you and you have no one to fall back onto for just one damn second to be strong for you-” Cameron cut herself off, eyes slightly glossy. She seemed to be wincing at the fact that her voice was wavering. Neil wanted to do everything he could to protect her. He had felt the exact same way after his mom died. He had no one, until Andrew, to fall back on. 

“I will tell you if you still want to know,” Andrew said. Cameron shrugged. 

“I’m curious but if you don’t want to tell me, you don't have to.” Andrew gripped Neil’s hand tighter. 

“I was in the foster system. There was one house I really wanted to stay in, but the other guys there used me.” Andrew looked at Cameron and her eye’s narrowed. 

“Used you how?” Straight to the point, Neil noted. 

“My body without my permission.” Cameron sucked in a sharp breath. “I was told that I simply didn’t get what they were doing to me - that I didn’t understand ‘brotherly love’. Then I was sent to juvie-” 

“Why?” Andrew clenched his jaw and looked at Neil who nodded. He didn’t see another way around it. 

“I killed someone who was abusing my brother after I told them not to. After, I met the Foxes and the red-headed junkie next to me.” Neil rolled his eyes at the name. 

Cameron looked like she was having a mental battle with herself but the fact that she was still in the room with them said a lot. Neil turned his gaze on Andrew and mouthed ‘yes or no’ and then traced his eyes towards Cameron. Andrew did a short nod in agreement.

“Cameron,” Andrew said and her gaze snapped up to him, quick and frantic. Andrew almost winced. “Can I tell you something?” Andrew’s voice was softer than before.

“Sure,” Cameron said. 

“We have a different relationship than most people,” Neil said. Cameron nodded, eyebrows drawn together. Neil noticed that she was getting slightly more expressive compared to when she showed up that morning. 

“It’s that we do not do anything with or involving another person without their explicit permission,” Andrew said, voice hard but not threatening. “Neil and I do not touch each other without permission from both of us. Even if Neil said ‘yes’ this morning that does not mean it would be a ‘yes’ later that day.” Cameron looked up at Andrew, then to Neil, and back at Andrew. That was the first time that she  _ really _ looked at them.

“You good?” Neil asked. 

“Yeah,” Cameron said as she rubbed the back of her neck. “I really want to call bullshit right now.” Neil chuckled quietly and shook his head. 

“That goes for you too, though,” Neil said. “We will not touch you or do anything towards you without your permission. We ask for the same from you, aslo.” She said nothing. The reason that Cameron needed to do the same to them was more for her safety than anything.

“What are you thinking about?” Andrew asked. Cameron looked at a point between the two of them.

“I told myself, after I left my mom, that I would never be weak like that again.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t hold myself - literally-” She put her head in her hands. “Dammit. I’m being weak right now, come on.” 

“No,” Neil said and Cameron looked at him. “No. One thing that took me a very long time to realize is that I am stronger with other people and when I talk to other people.” 

“We all know that was a real problem for you,” Andrew said and Neil lightly shoved his shoulder.

“Anyway,” Neil paused. “I am strong by myself - and if you want to get stronger, Andrew and I can help you with that - but the point is that being open with people you trust does not make you weak.” Neil waited a few seconds to make sure Cameron understood. Neil wasn’t lying, not about any of it. “That was cheesy as hell.” 

Cameron laughed and Andrew shook his head. 

“If you didn’t realize that I would kick you out,” Andrew said. 

“Don’t lie. You wouldn’t live without me,” Neil said. 

“I hate you,” Andrew said and Neil smiled. Cameron looked at the two of them, really looked at them, then seemed to come to an unspoken conclusion. She started to walk towards her bedroom before turning back around and retracting her steps. 

“No,” Cameron said. Neil and Andrew passed a look before turning back to face her. “I hate the name Ca- I hate it. Can you stop calling me that? My mom called me that.” Neil almost laughed. Apparently she had both of them in her. Andrew slightly snorted and Neil looked at him. 

“This is your forte, not mine,” Andrew said.

“Do you want to pick something yourself?” Neil asked. “It’s something entirely your own. Something you picked. It also feels like defiance,” Neil said. Cameron smirked, a little more real this time. 

“Chloe,” Cameron - Chloe - said. Neil couldn’t help but smile. She turned away then spun back around. “Chloe Minyard-Josten, right?” Neil’s breath caught in his throat and he smiled even wider. 

“Perfect,” Andrew said. Then, without turning around he said, “He’s grinning like an idiot behind me, isn’t he.” It wasn’t a question and Chloe actually laughed. 

“We’ll see you in the morning?” Neil asked and Chloe nodded. “Oh, and Chloe?” 

“Yes?” 

“Why didn’t you tell us earlier, if it bothered you so much?” Chloe shrugged.

“I hadn't thought that I was going to stay that long so I didn't think there was a point.” With that, Chloe spun around and walked back to her room. Once she was out of earshot, Andrew spoke. 

“The resemblance is fucking unbelieveable.” Neil laughed and looked at Andrew until he turned around just to shove Neil’s face away. The gesture was unnecessary considering the fact that he grabbed his chin right after and once Neil nodded, kissed him like the world was on fire. Andrew slid one hand under Neil’s shirt and ran his fingers over his scarred abdomen. Neil didn’t think he would ever get sick of kissing Andrew. Once they broke apart Andrew looked at Neil, both breathing heavy. 

“I hate you,” Andrew said and Neil shrugged. “I hate her as much as I hate you.” 

“Love you too,” Neil said. “And Chloe.” Andrew dramatically rolled his eyes. “Such a drama queen.” 

“Bed?” They kissed as they made their way towards the bedroom, Neil only bumping into the frame once. 

  
  
  
  


  
  


**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!  
> i hope you liked it (if this wasn't your vibe, that's cool too)  
> would love to know your thoughts  
> i have a lot of ideas for more chapters/parts for this series so if you're looking for anything in particular, let me know.  
> any typos are on me, also and any edits would be for typos only  
> thanks again


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